Facebook Investor To Put $1B Into Social Media

The Russian investment firm that's contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to Facebook's bank accounts is not even close to ending its involvement with social media.  According to Yuri Milner, who's the CEO and founding partner of Digital Sky Technologies, his organization is interested in doling out another $1 billion.

Obviously, that's a stunning amount, and perhaps all the more so since Facebook, which is one of the most successful social media sites in existence, doesn't yet seem to be making money hand over fist.

There's an aspect of DST's investment strategy that's arguably even more interesting, however, as it looks like all - or even most - of the $1 billion isn't headed for Facebook.  Milner told Olga Kharif, "We monitor close to 50 companies globally that can be potential investment opportunities."

So a significant Facebook backer must think it's possible for all sorts of other businesses built around social media to turn a profit.  Despite the facts that Twitter's had so much trouble landing on a revenue model and MySpace may be unable to extend its profitable search deal with Google.

It should be interesting to see how DST proceeds.  Kharif reported that at least one investment should be announced by the middle of this year.

Twitter Cofounder Talks Again About Acquisitions

There's no need to start refreshing the Twitter Blog every five seconds; it doesn't sound like any pens are poised over paper at the moment.  However, Biz Stone has made some statements concerning acquisitions that point to more of them taking place in the future.

"That is something we are definitely interested in," Stone said at a press conference in Israel, according to Steven Scheer.  He then referenced Summize, continuing, "We made an acquisition last year that turned out to be an outstandingly good decision."

And Stone also added, "As our attention is grabbed by some of these developers, we will take a hard look at them."

Now (and/or in the next few months) might be a good time for Twitter to make acquisitions, considering that its bank accounts are fairly full and the economy remains on shaky ground.  Critics might grumble if Twitter spends money without first starting to make it - as always, monetization remains a concern - but there are other things, like iffy growth and uptime figures, to consider.

We'll keep an eye on the situation, then.  Just don't place a bet on anything occurring during what's normally a rather slow news season.

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Internet Payday Lender Fined $1 Million By FTC

Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have announced a settlement has been reached against an international Internet payday lending operation that failed to disclose key loan terms and used illegal debt collection tactics against consumers.

The operation will pay $1 million to settle the State of Nevada and FTC charges for its misleading tactics.

The defendants operated from the United Kingdome and targeted consumers in the United States, who were misled into believing that the defendants operated in Nevada. According to the complaint filed by the FTC and Nevada in 2008, the defendants told consumers that the loans had to be repaid by their next payday with a fee ranging from $35 to $90, or the loans would be extended automatically for an extra fee debited from consumers' bank accounts until the loans were repaid.

"We will investigate and prosecute these offshore lending operations," said Attorney General Masto. "These individuals need to know that we will not allow our citizens to be scammed and harassed via the Internet."

The FTC alleges that the defendants falsely threatened consumers with arrest or imprisonment, falsely claimed that consumers were legally obligated to pay the debts, threatened to take legal action they could not take, repeatedly called consumers at work using abusive and profane language, and improperly disclosed consumers debt to third parties.

The settlement order requires the defendants to pay $970,125 to the FTC and $29,875 to the State of Nevada. The order prohibits them from falsely claiming that consumers may be arrested or imprisoned for failing to pay debts, that they are legally obligated to pay the full amount of a purported debt, and that for nonpayment they are subject to lawsuit, seizure of property, or garnishment of wages.

The defendants also are barred from repeatedly calling consumers' work places, using obscene or threatening language toward consumers and third parties, and disclosing the existence of consumers' purported debts to third parties.

The settling corporate defendants are Cash Today, Ltd., and The Heathmill Village, Ltd. (both registered in the United Kingdom); The Harris Holdings, Ltd. (registered in Guernsey, an island between England and France); Leads Global, Inc., Waterfront Investments, Inc., ACH Cash, Inc., HBS Services, Inc., Rovinge International, Inc.; and Lotus Leads, Inc. and First4Leads, Inc. (both now dissolved); each also doing business as Cash Today, Route 66 Funding, Global Financial Services International, Ltd., Interim Cash, Ltd., and Big-Int, Ltd. The settling individual defendants are Aaron Gershfield and Ivor Gershfield.
 

Canadian Man Charged In U.S. Online Gambling Case

The FBI has announced the indictment of a Canadian man for his role in processing more than $350 million for Internet gambling companies.

According to the indictment, Douglas Rennick, 34, opened bank accounts in the U.S. from 2007 to June 2009, under a variety of corporate names and "falsely represented that the accounts would be used for such purposes as issuing rebate checks, refund checks, sponsorship checks, and affiliate checks and minor payroll processing."

The indictment says Rennick and unnamed co-conspirators used the accounts "to receive funds from offshore Internet gambling companies that offered, variously, poker, blackjack, slots and other casino games."

Rennick and others then distributed those funds via checks to U.S. residents seeking to cash out their gambling winnings.

The indictment alleges Rennick "provided false and misleading information to U.S. banks about the purpose of the accounts because the banks would not have processed the transactions had they known they were gambling-related."

If found guilty, Rennick faces up to 30 years in prison and fines of more than one million dollars for bank fraud, money laundering and other charges. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of at least $565 million, which represents the amount of money obtained as a result of the illegal gambling and bank fraud conspiracies.